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Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

johnrothwell
Hooked
Posts: 5
Registered: ‎03-04-2019

Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

My wifi completely disappeared yesterday and after spending several hours last night fiddling with the HH6 realised that this coincided with a firmware update. When I say disappeared, I actually mean disappeared. The hub's homepage reports the wifi status as "off", but the hub's wireless page says that it is "on". I've factory reset etc etc etc but there is no wifi network broadcast by the router.

I communicated with PlusNet support this evening who's only response was to try to sell me a new contract that would come with a new router!!! I explained that I would be very happy to talk about renewing, but this wasn't the time because I needed to get my wifi back on line now. The support guy didn't seem to understand that whilst he was trying to sell me stuff and was not fixing my problem I was unlikely to buy anything. I started out with Force 9 around the turn of the century and this is the only bad experience I have, but is going to send me looking for another provider.

Does anyone have a possible fix for this firmware issue?

19 REPLIES 19
Strat
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

Moderators Note
This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to My Router.

 

 

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Marksfish
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

You may not like the reply when they do. I think it will be along the lines of "we don't support 3rd party routers". Whilst BT is the parent company of PN, they are 2 separate entities and Home hubs will be treated the same as Sky, Talk Talk, et al.

markhawkin
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

@johnrothwell 

I take it you have a BT Home Hub (not a Plusnet router).

It doesn't seem very likely that some BT pushed firmware broke your hardware however it's not impossible.

If it were a widespread issue I would expect it to make news coverage as many people have BT service and their router.

Do you have a Plusnet supplied router to try ?

Assuming you want a BT HH6 buying another (via an auction site) seems the way to go,

 

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johnrothwell
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Registered: ‎03-04-2019

Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

Yes, it's a fairly new BT HH6 sourced
new from an auction site and it's WiFi totally failed following a firmware update pushed by PlusNet. They acknowledged it by saying they could push another but it may take 24 hours. I'd have been happy with that and an apology, but they just kept saying I needed a new contract and they would send a new router. I only recently bought this router because theirs was failing and there was nothing wrong with it until their update.
dvorak
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

PN wouldn't push an update to a BT HH6 - it would have been released by BT.
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Mustrum
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

As has already been said, you are not going to get support for a router that is not theirs, they don't control it, and unlikely to have knowledge of it.

Why don't you ask on the BT Form, you don't have to say you are on PN, but let them know what firmware you have.

Have you tried turning the WiFi off, then back on? In the advanced menu I think.

 

markhawkin
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

Well John,

If Plusnet really pushed firmware to the BT HH6 and broke it, that is an interesting development and likely to result in a good few complaints.

I've a feeling that the person you spoke to had some confusion between firmware pushed to Plusnet's own routers and your HH6.

Hopefully you will get a response from a Plusnet staff member shortly on this thread.

 

I am the satisfied customer....
johnrothwell
Hooked
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Registered: ‎03-04-2019

Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

They've acknowledged the firmware came from them by telling me they would send it again😁 Happy for PN not to support my router as long as they don't modify it.
dvorak
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

I think as said above, there is some confusion on the part of the support person you spoke to.
PN don't have a firmware for the BT HH6.
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johnrothwell
Hooked
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Registered: ‎03-04-2019

Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

I was expecting them to deny all responsibility, but the fact that they didn't and then went away for a long time before saying they could reflash tomorrow made me suspicious. Anyway, my main gripe is them trying to flog me stuff on a support call.
pjmarsh
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

They will have gone away to request that the firmware be pushed out to a Plusnet router that is connected to your account. Having determined that you may need a new router, and that you aren't eligible for a free one from Plusnet, there are only really four options:

  • Sell you a router (around £50 if I remember correctly)
  • Tell you to go and buy your own router
  • Suggest that you recontract, part of which would mean that you are eligible for a free router
  • Tell you there is nothing they can do for you

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

DS
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

The hub's homepage reports the wifi status as "off", but the hub's wireless page says that it is "on"

It will.

The home (status) page is for of BT Wi-fi (formerly known as BT Fon), though mines worded 'Not active' and not 'off'.

You're using a Hub6 on a Plusnet connection, thus BT Wi-Fi can't be active.

there is no wifi network broadcast by the router

That's something completely different. If you're using a windows based PC/Laptop, try connecting via ethernet, check for windows updates, probably apply at least one, reboot (as possibly instructed) and then you might find the wifi broadcasts start to show.

HTH

bobpullen
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi


@markhawkin wrote:

Well John,

If Plusnet really pushed firmware to the BT HH6 and broke it, that is an interesting development and likely to result in a good few complaints.

I've a feeling that the person you spoke to had some confusion between firmware pushed to Plusnet's own routers and your HH6.

Hopefully you will get a response from a Plusnet staff member shortly on this thread.


We have zero control over the hardware management platform used by BT, and as such there is no way we can push a firmware update to a BT-provided Hub.

The firmware images are signed anyway - a BT Hub wouldn't accept a Plusnet signed image even if it was possible to push an update.


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Baldrick1
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Re: Firmware broke my HH6 wifi

@johnrothwell 

Hopefully you are now convinced that this problem is not of Plusnet's making.

After the factory reset did you set it up from scratch again? If so can you connect tp Plusnet using an Ethernet cable? 

If yes to these it might help if you could post screenshots of the relavent smarthub pages here so that we could see if we can spot anything out of place in the settings. It could of course be that the firmware update has caused this issue or that it is an unfortunate coincidence.

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